English Original
calling home --
the colour of mother’s voice
before her words
Dust of Summers, 2007
Hilary Tann
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
呼喚回家 --
在母親開口說話之前
她的聲音色彩
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
呼唤回家 --
在母亲开口说话之前
她的声音色彩
Bio Sketch
Hilary Tann was a founding member of the Route 9 Haiku Group known for its biannual anthology of haiku and senryu, Upstate Dim Sum. Her work has appeared in various publications, including 20 issues of Upstate Dim Sum (2001-2010) and Mann Library Archive (December 2008). And she was also an internationally acclaimed composer known for the lyricism and spirituality of her music and for her devotion to students over four decades of teaching at Union College in Schenectady, New York.
L1 sets the theme while the synesthetic phrasing of L2 is fresh and
ReplyDeleteevocative
And the turn in L3 shifts the focus from "what" the speaker's mother says to "how" it feels. This deepens the emotional resonance and captures that instant when "tone carries more weight than language/words."